Muggy Monday

Our weather is getting progressively muggier and muggier. I'm sure the skies will dump some rain on us soon with some thunder and lightening storms. I enjoy our summer storms. They usually relieve the humidity and then it builds up again over the next few days repeating the cycle.


Tut, tut, looks like rain!
Brian was home this morning until mid-afternoon. He is doing another round of late night flights. He worked out in his garage. I think the summer clean up challenge has inspired him to work in some of his areas. He also took a run. I'm not sure how one runs in this hot, humid weather, with any level of comfort, but he does. He took a quick dip in the pool when he got back...an instead cool down.

Bessie and I made and delivered a meal for a family from church. The mom had surgery on her foot and has to be off her leg for weeks. The poor woman is suffering from major cabin fever.

Danger Dan doing some tricks
The kids enjoyed some time in the pool and wonder of wonders...Dan is swimming. He is really quite amazing. He is so delayed at times in his behavior, acting most of the time closer to a 2-3 year old than a 4yo, but he is so strong and coordinated physically. It can make for a dangerous combination at times. Anyway...back to the swimming. He has been wearing a "training" jacket that mom and dad got him with floats in it. He was not listening very well tonight and kept straying into the deep end of the pool. I'm sure he is probably quite safe with this jacket on, but I like him a bit closer to me in case he has trouble. I made him take the jacket off and told him to play on the pool stairs. The next moment he was swimming back and forth on the stairs. Then he was jumping off the side and swimming to the stairs. We all cheered and clapped. He was quite proud of himself. There will be no holding him back now! Bessie spent the rest of the pool time in the shallow end with him playing lifeguard.

Bessie and Gabe both learned to swim at four, so Dan is right on track with them. Now, all our kids are swimming! What a huge difference from last summer when the Littles wouldn't even step off the stairs for fear of the water!

What Does your Latte Say About You?

Okay, so I have way too much idle time today and should be doing something but I'm having way too much fun on the computer!

I saw this on Cynthia's blog today.

Some of what it says about me is true and some of it is way off, but fun anyway.

What Your Latte Says About You

You are very decadent in all aspects of your life. You never scale back, and you always live large. You can be quite silly at times, but you know when to buckle down and be serious. You have a good deal of energy, but you pace yourself. You never burn out too fast. You're addicted to caffeine. There's no denying it. You are a child at heart, and you don't ever miss the opportunity to do something playful. You are deep and thoughtful, but you are never withdrawn.

What Does Your Latte Say About You?

Blogger Award

De'Etta has given me an Inspirational Blogger Award. I'm always so surprised that anyone finds my blog worthy of an award, but I am pleased.


"For those bloggers who inspire others through their words and actions. With a positive attitude, and an uplifting spirit these bloggers make the blogosphere a better place, and encourage others to do the same. This award is for bloggers who rise up to set an example but continue to reach out and support others."

Below are the rules and a link to the other possible awards.

1) If you have received an award simply choose either the dark or light background image and save it to your files, then post it proudly on your blog!

2) Pass the award on to five other people, you can choose any of the awards from the series, you do not have to pass out the exact award you received. Choose whichever of the awards below that you'd like to give out. You can give out one of each or five of the same one, whatever you prefer.

3) You can change the size and color of awards to suit your blog, that's up to you, it's your blog, just leave the titles the same.

4) Please link back to this post so that people can read these rules and so that the meanings of the awards will not be lost.

Here are my choices:

Yvonne from Homeshcooling in the Little House inspires me with her daily insights into God words and how she applies that to her real life. I never come away from her blog without some nugget of wisdom.

Dorothy from You Did What? inspires me with her constant sense of humor, her journey to make the best life she can for her children and her willingness to share her wonderful country.

Kathy (and Tim) from Duckabush inspire me with their love of God and family and their consistent willingness to be open about their spiritual journey. I admire their closeness and the obvious love they all have for each other.

Kristine from Jewelsofmyown inspires me with her daily walk as she deals with the difficulties in life with a positive attitude and strong spirit. I admire Kristine for her dedication to her children and their education.

Last but not least, I'm sending this award to Jodi from Learning All the Time. Jodi inspires me with her faith and her sacrifice as she commits daily to being home with her children. She never fails to show her love for her children as she deals with learning differences and the many ways she has found to teach them.

There are so many others I could have named. Thank you ladies for sharing your lives with me and others through your blogs.

Summer Clean Up Challenge - July

What a job! I never would have thought it would take so long to get our bedroom in order. It is embarrassing to think how bad it had gotten, but it is looking good now. What a difference!

We moved all my scrapbooking stuff out of the alcove and organized it into a closet. We moved Gabe's bed into the alcove. We will put a curtain over the opening, but haven't picked out the hardware for that yet. We moved some other furniture around, washed the curtains and windows, and did a deep clean on the room.

Below you will see the before and after pictures.

Gabe's bed moved and furniture rearranged.


Scrapbooking supplies organized and relocated and Gabe's bed and possessions moved in.


Everything picked up, put away and organized.


A few extra pictures of the finished room. How much more pleasing to my eye!


Thank you, Lisa for posting this challenge. It was just the incentive I needed to tackle this room. Once I posted the pictures of how bad the room was, my pride would not let me quit until the room was clean!

I have a new area all picked out for August!

Flying Children

The kids love it when Bri goes in the pool with them. He is so much fun and just a big kid himself. He'll have water gun fights and squish ball fights and best of all, he'll toss the children. It is amazing to me how high they go and how much fun they seem to be having.

Brian said he has to be careful with Hannah as she is so light that he could really toss her high! She doesn't seem to mind!

Gabe
















Hannah
















Rachel

A Day at the Pond

Wednesday afternoon we went with friends to visit a family we hadn't met before. They are in the process of bringing a new daughter home from Haiti. It is so encouraging to talk to other adoptive families.

They have a wonderful pond for swimming and exploring. The water isn't too deep except right in the middle and there was plenty of sand to play in.

Gabe especially was so excited by all the frogs, tadpoles and insects around the pond. They had several nets and Gabe had taken along a container. We came home with several frogs in various stages of development. They are making a new home in our garden pond.

It was such a wonderful spot for the kids to play and the moms to visit. The kids had a terrific time and we hope to visit again soon.

















The only down side to the whole day was the radiator on the van overheated. I couldn't get the cap off to add more water, so we had to limp home. I knew enough to run the heat on which helps to pull heat away from the engine. After dropping Bessie off at a babysitting job, we made it home without redlining the temperature. After the engine was shut off, lots of steam came out. It was actually pretty cool looking.














After Bri got home, he found a hole in the radiator hose. A quick fix and we are set to go.

Humility: The Journey Towards Holiness

by Andrew Murray

Here is the book description from Christian Book Distributors:

"When Jesus "made himself nothing ... taking the nature of a servant," He modeled for all believers true humility. Murray calls this "our true nobility" and "the distinguishing feature of discipleship." In twelve brief but powerful chapters, Murray journeys through Scripture and Christ's life, underscoring the utmost need for humility---as opposed to pride---in the Christian's life. With insightful, penetrating clarity, Murray calls all Christians to turn from pride, empty themselves, and study the character of Christ to be filled with His grace. Often called the best work on humility ever written, this edition has been edited for today's reader."

I am not a very good reviewer...I like a book or find it helpful or I don't. I found this book very helpful, full of insight and depth as the author looked at humility as the most important trait to seek after in a believers life.

Here are a few quotes from the book that give you just a taste of what the book has to offer.

"Since the time Christ so exposed his pride, the Pharisee has put on the garb of the tax collector. The confessor of deep sinfulness and the professor of highest holiness must be on watch. Just when we are most anxious to have our heart be the temple of God, we will find the two men coming to pray. And the tax collector will find that his danger is not from the Pharisee beside him, who despises him, but the Pharisee within, who commends and exalts himself."

"The cross, death, and the grave, into which Jesus humbled himself, were His path to the glory of God. And they are our path too. Let humility be our one desire and our fervent prayer. Let us gladly accept whatever humbles us before God or men - this alone is the path to the glory of God."

I would highly recommend this book.

Scrapbook Area

Cynthia posted a Scrapbooking Challenge on her blog. The first "assignment" was to organize something. I decided to tackle my whole scrapbook area and it worked nicely in conjunction with Lisa's Summer Clean Up Challenge. Wow, all these challenges! You gals keep challenging me and maybe I'll get my life in order! LOL

I basically moved all my scrapbooking supplies from a small alcove in our bedroom, to a closet.

In the process, I went through just about everything I had, sorted it, tossed some, gave some away and reduced my stash by quite a bit.

Before (all my stuff in the alcove)


I folded up the table and it stores nicely beside my carts which hold all my stamping supplies.

Everything has a home now, I can see it and get to it easily. I will need to get a few more plastic boxes to make things fit better, but it is all organized!

After (everything in the closet)



Thanks for a great challenge Cynthia. What are we doing next?

Football Player

This is my latest cross-stitch block.

This guy worked up quite quickly and was easy to do.

The quilt theme is sports.

A Bat in the House

We have a very old house, ca. 1840s. Every once in a while, we get a bat in the house. It doesn't happen too often, but it does happen.

This morning as Dan and I headed into the downstairs bathroom, I noticed something on the floor. When it moved I have to admit to letting out a little start! It was a bat. I closed the door and gathered up my bat catching tools.

Poor little guy clinging to the wall in our bathroom

I used Gabe's bug net and a piece of cardboard. I gently put the net flush with the wall over the bat and slid the cardboard between him and the wall.

Safely in the net, I brought him outside. He seemed quite startled by the bright sunshine and took a few low wide circles before flying off, looking fine.

I'm sure he was just as glad to be out of the house as we were to have him outside.

My trapping technique

Bringing him outside

It rained yesterday, so the kids didn't get to enjoy the pool. Brian was home in the morning and we worked most of that time moving Gabe into the little alcove area in our room. What a job. We knew his bed would fit in there, but getting it there was a chore. We are happy with the result and although Gabe doesn't always like change, he seemed quite pleased.

I spent time sorting scrapbook stuff after Bri went to work. Going through all my scrapbooking things has made me realize that I really miss doing my books. My pages were never very fancy, but I did enjoy working them. I'm sure I will simplify even more, but I hope to get back to working on my pages.

Today started out cloudy, but the sun burned off the clouds and it was nice this afternoon. I set up this crazy water sprayer toy that Theresa and Glenn had given Dan for his birthday. It is the wildest thing. The water squirts out of all these tubes that whirl and spray back and forth. The kids had a ball. What a simple thing water is, yet it provides such enjoyment.

After dinner, Bessie, Gabe and I went to the library. We love our little library. You can always find something good to read and they don't charge overdue fines!

We have been struggling the last week or so. The Littles do not like all the free time we have and this results in lots of squabbles and bickering. I am thinking about starting back to school soon. I don't have all our material yet, but we can certainly do a modified school day. It will be enough to give the Littles more structure, but not too much that Bess and Gabe feel they have lost their summer.

After I finish cleaning our bedroom, I will start on our school shelves!

Gabe's Birthday Revisited

Like Kathy at Duckabush Blog, we like to drag out our birthday celebrations. We seem to celebrate as a family, celebrate with friends and then celebrate again with extended family.

Sunday was the planned day for our extended family celebration for Gabe. Throw in the fact that he has a July birthday and we also try and make this a pool party. We have been very fortunate in years past with the weather and we were not disappointed this year. The forecast at the start of the week did not bode well for a nice day on Sunday, but we were blessed with bright sunshine and warm temps.

It was a smaller gathering with Theresa and three of the kids (Glenn and Julia had to work) and Mom and Dad.

We cooked hot dogs and hamburgers, Theresa brought a pasta salad and mom brought a nice pickle assortment and chips. We also had potato salad and baked beans. We made ice cream cake for dessert. It was very yummy. We put chocolate sauce inbetween the ice cream layers this time and it was soooo good.

Mariah and Bessie

The bigger girls enjoy the trampoline

Abbie

Chef Brian mans the grill

Zeb and Gabe load up their plates

After lunch, the kids headed for the pool...well the kids and Dad. He loves playing with the kids in the pool. Dad is such a kid at heart and the grandkids think he is the greatest.

Mom watching the swimmers

Papa and the kids

Gabe and Zeb

Dad dives through the tube

(Not bad at 71 years old!)

Bessie and Mariah launch Gabe into the air

Yum, ice cream cake!

The birthday boy opens more gifts

It was a great week of celebrating a great little man.

Rainy Days

We have had three days of on and off rain, some fun thunder storms and a bit of wind.

I enjoy the rain, I find it very soothing and all of outdoors seems to sigh on a rainy day.

On the flip side, it is much more difficult to keep my lively crew occupied. We have done puzzles, read books, colored and colored some more, played with hair, taken out every toy available, taken turns on the computer and done a fair quantity of bickering. Oh well, I'm sure the Littles will figure out the idea of quiet rainy days eventually.

Pool time on Monday, our last sunny day this week

Brian has been home the last couple of mornings, which help. The kids tow the line better for dad.

We had friends over on Monday for swimming and a little celebration for Gabe's birthday. He got all sorts of fun pool things...beach towel, goggles, squish balls and the orange donut you see above. He gets very embarrassed when people watch him, so we have to go gently with the fanfare, but he did a great job and was polite about his gifts and the attention.

Our lawn is growing into a hayfield. We did not get it mowed when we got back from camping and with the rain this week, it continues to grow. We have quite a bit of clover on the lawn and the little white flowers are a welcome visitor for the honeybees. Unfortunately, Bess and Gabe have gotten stung on the feet from stepping on the little guys. Gabe has taken to wearing his rubber boots as protection. Hopefully the sun will shine long enough to dry it out so we can mow in the next day or so.

Me

My on-line pal, Kristine, posted some pictures of herself the other day after catching some flack from fellow bloggers for "blurring" a picture.

She sort of challenged anyone else to post a picture. Well, Kristine, here is my picture, untouched, unrehearsed, uneverything! I don't wear makeup, fuss with my hair, so this is pretty much it on any old day.

I have noticed that I find myself saying..."who in the world is that gray-haired, chubby (we don't say fat!), old lady", when I see pictures of myself...ah, time is marching on and seems to be picking up speed!

Here is a very silly one to match Kristine's!

Happy Birthday, Gabe!

Today is Gabe's 8th birthday. Where does the time go? I'm sure all parents feel this way as they watch the advancing birthdays.

We had a good day today. After church, we had a quiet afternoon. There were a lot of thunder storms rolling around today and we had several downpours. We did manage to get in some pool time and a bit of outdoor playtime.

Bessie motoring on the donut

Oh no, a pool shark and over she goes!

Dan, our human cork, bobs around the pool

with his varying floatation devices

Mom and dad came over late afternoon to celebrate Gabe's birthday with us. We had homemade pizza, salad and brownie sundaes...all at Gabe's request.

Gabe opens his cards

Noona and Papa gave him a photo album to

go with his new camera

Make a wish
Blow!I'm not sure what was so funny, but Dan is just giggling like crazy
Noona and Papa and the kids...all smiles
Our birthday boy!

Happy Birthday, Gabe, we love you. What a wonderful eight years it has been. May God bless you as you enter into your ninth year!